Formerly known as Cassius Clay, his extravagant style inside and out of the boxing ring lead to him becoming one of his eras most recognisable faces.

Cancun: Former heavyweight boxing icon Muhammad Ali was honoured with the title of the "King of Boxing" during the 50th convention of the World Boxing Council in the Mexican city of Cancun on Monday.

The event was attended by the head of the World Boxing Council Jose Sulaiman along with former boxing champions such as Mexican Julios Cesar.

Ali, who wore dark glasses, was lead into the convention and sat on a red velvet throne.

A sign in Spanish on a large-screen television read, "Welcome to Cancun, King of Boxing."Ali was one of the great sportsmen of the 20th Century.

Formerly known as Cassius Clay, his extravagant style inside and out of the boxing ring lead to him becoming one of his eras most recognisable faces.

The fleet-footed boxer won his first heavyweight title from Sonny Liston at the age of 22 and recorded 56 wins in his 21-year career.He was strongly criticised at the time for skipping the draft for the US Army during the Vietnam war, famously saying: "Man, I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong."

Eventually, he was arrested and found guilty of evasion and stripped of his world title and boxing license.

He avoided prison, but was out of the ring for four years while he fought a successful appeal all the way up to the US Supreme Court.Ali retired in 1981 and was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1984.